AUTOMATED CONFLICT RESOLUTION MANAGEMENT
A system, a method of performing conflict management in a system, and a conflict manager in a system are described. The system includes two or more controllers to issue corresponding two or more commands to one or more actors to accomplish a respective activity, the actor being one of a tool to be controlled based on the command, an application to be executed based on the command, or an operator to be instructed based on the command. The system also includes a conflict manager, implemented by a processor, to resolve a conflict with one of the two or more commands or between the two or more commands.
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Systems with many components, such as those used in downhole exploration and production efforts, involve the deployment of a variety of sensors and tools. The sensors may provide information about the downhole environment by providing measurements of temperature, density, and resistivity, among many other parameters. This information may be used to control such tools as the drill bit, steering head, or bottomhole assembly.
SUMMARYAccording to an embodiment of the invention, a system includes two or more controllers configured to issue corresponding two or more commands to one or more actors to accomplish a respective activity, the actor being one of a tool to be controlled based on the command, an application to be executed based on the command, or an operator to be instructed based on the command; and a conflict manager, implemented by a processor, configured to resolve a conflict with one of the two or more commands or between the two or more commands.
According to another embodiment, a method of performing conflict management in a system includes identifying, using a processor, two or more commands issued by corresponding two or more controllers to an actor to accomplish a respective activity, the actor being one of a tool to be controlled based on the command, an application to be executed based on the command, or an operator to be instructed based on the command; and resolving a conflict, using the processor, between the two or more commands directed to the actor based on a specified strategy.
According to yet another embodiment, a conflict manager in a system including two or more controllers that issue corresponding two or more commands to control an actor to accomplish a respective activity includes an input interface configured to receive the two or more commands to control the actor, the actor being one of a tool to be controlled based on the command, an application to be executed based on the command, or an operator to be instructed based on the command; and a processor configured to resolve a conflict between the two or more commands based on a specified strategy.
Referring now to the drawings wherein like elements are numbered alike in the several Figures:
As noted above, systems with many components may involve the use of a variety of sensors and tools. When more than one activity is undertaken in the system at a given time, conflicts may arise based on contradictory commands being sent to a given actor (tool, application, operator) for each of the activities. For example, one type of conflict may arise when two different downhole activities involve control of the drill bit, and each activity provides different parameters to which the drill bit is to be controlled. Another type of conflict may involve conflicting goals for the same actor (e.g., continue use of a tool or pull out the tool for maintenance). Yet another type of conflict may involve an actor receiving a command that is outside its capability or safety range. Embodiments of the systems and methods described herein relate to the resolution of a variety of such conflicts.
Other exemplary conflicts arise for actors 30, as well. For example, a given tool 20 may be instructed to perform two different activities. That is, controllers 240 implementing control to complete two different activities may issue commands to the same tool 20 at the same time to perform different functions. As another example, a given tool 20 (actor 30) may be needed at two different locations to perform functions related to two different activities. As yet another example, an operator (actor 30) may be given instructions to follow two different procedures at the same time. Even if the procedures themselves do not conflict with each other, the operator's inability to simultaneously carry out both procedures presents a conflict that must be resolved. As noted above, conflicts may also arise when a given actor 30 receives commands that are outside the capability or safety range of the actor 30 or when controllers 240 issue commands pertaining to conflicting goals for the actor 30.
According to the dedicated control strategy, a single controller (e.g., 240c) among the several controllers 240a-240d is selected as the dedicated controller 240 and is the only controller 240 that may control tools 20 or other actors 30. According to the priority control strategy, the higher priority command among the conflicting commands from the controllers 240 is sent. Relative priority among commands may be determined in one of several ways based on the additional information available from the controllers 240. The controllers 240 issuing conflicting commands may be associated with the same activity or with different activities. Some of the conflict resolution strategies (e.g., based on activity priority) discussed below apply to conflicting commands associated with different activities, but priority may also be specified and established between commands associated with different procedures and tasks of the same activity. For example, the information about the activity (e.g., criticality of the activity or of the originating goal, service state) may determine priority. That is, a controller 240 associated with an off-nominal state activity may have higher priority to issue commands or priority may be based on safety concerns (e.g., a safety override has priority). According to the shared control strategy, an average or weighted average, according to priority, of values in the conflicting commands from different controllers 240 may be used. In an alternate embodiment of the shared control strategy, a model may be used to estimate or predict the effect of each of the conflicting commands on physical phenomenon (e.g., vibration, formation integrity) such that a single optimized command could be shared. According to the conditional override strategy, a given controller 240 takes over dedicated control while a condition holds true, and then the strategy changes when the condition no longer holds true or another controller 240 takes over dedicated control based on another condition. According to the timed override strategy, a given controller 240 takes over dedicated control for a specified duration of time (this would be like the conditional override where the condition is a duration of time). There may be a default strategy among the strategies that holds true when a condition or timed override duration end. In alternate embodiments, commands from each of the different controllers 240 may be sequenced based on one of the strategies (e.g., priority) discussed above.
While one or more embodiments have been shown and described, modifications and substitutions may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, it is to be understood that the present invention has been described by way of illustrations and not limitation.
Claims
1. A system, comprising:
- two or more controllers configured to issue corresponding two or more commands to one or more actors to accomplish a respective activity, the actor being one of a tool to be controlled based on the command, an application to be executed based on the command, or an operator to be instructed based on the command; and
- a conflict manager, implemented by a processor, configured to resolve a conflict with one of the two or more commands or between the two or more commands.
2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the conflict includes conflicting parameters issued by the two or more commands, conflicting actions defined by the two or more commands, or the one of the two or more commands issuing instructions outside a capability or safety range of one of the one or more actors.
3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the two or more controllers provide information related to the two or more commands and respective activities.
4. The system according to claim 3, wherein the conflict manager resolves the conflict based on the information corresponding with the two or more commands.
5. The system according to claim 1, wherein the conflict manager resolves the conflict based on a dedicated control strategy that includes one of the two or more controllers being designated as a designated controller.
6. The system according to claim 1, wherein the conflict manager resolves the conflict based on a priority control strategy that includes processing a priority command among the two or more commands based on the priority command indicating a higher priority relative to other commands among the two or more commands.
7. The system according to claim 1, wherein the conflict manager resolves the conflict based on a shared control strategy that includes processing a combination command derived from the two or more commands.
8. The system according to claim 1, wherein the conflict manager resolves the conflict based on a conditional override strategy that includes processing a command among the two or more commands associated with application controller among the two or more controllers having dedicated control based on a condition being true.
9. The system according to claim 1, wherein the conflict manager resolves the conflict based on a timed override strategy that includes processing a command among the two or more commands associated with application controller among the one or more controllers having dedicated control for a specified duration.
10. A method of performing conflict management in a system, the method comprising:
- identifying, using a processor, two or more commands issued by corresponding two or more controllers to an actor to accomplish a respective activity, the actor being one of a tool to be controlled based on the command, an application to be executed based on the command, or an operator to be instructed based on the command; and
- resolving a conflict, using the processor, between the two or more commands directed to the actor based on a specified strategy.
11. The method according to claim 10, further comprising receiving information from the two or more controllers additional to the corresponding two or more commands.
12. The method according to claim 10, wherein the resolving the conflict is based additionally on the information.
13. The method according to claim 10, wherein the resolving the conflict based on the specified strategy includes resolving the conflict based on a dedicated control strategy including one of the two or more controllers being designated as a designated controller.
14. The method according to claim 10, wherein the resolving the conflict based on the specified strategy includes resolving the conflict based on a priority control strategy including processing a priority command among the two or more commands based on the priority command indicating a higher priority relative to other commands among the two or more commands based on corresponding information.
15. The method according to claim 10, wherein the resolving the conflict based on the specified strategy includes resolving the conflict based on a shared control strategy including processing a combination command derived from a weighted average of values in the two or more commands.
16. The method according to claim 10, wherein the resolving the conflict based on the specified strategy includes resolving the conflict based on a conditional override strategy including processing a command among the two or more commands associated with application controller among the two or more controllers having dedicated control based on a condition being true.
17. The method according to claim 10, wherein the resolving the conflict based on the specified strategy includes resolving the conflict based on a timed override strategy including processing a command among the two or more commands associated with application controller among the two or more controllers having dedicated control for a specified duration.
18. A conflict manager in a system including two or more controllers that issue corresponding two or more commands to control an actor to accomplish a respective activity, the manager comprising:
- an input interface configured to receive the two or more commands to control the actor, the actor being one of a tool to be controlled based on the command, an application to be executed based on the command, or an operator to be instructed based on the command; and
- a processor configured to resolve a conflict between the two or more commands based on a specified strategy.
19. The manager according to claim 18, wherein the input interface additionally receives information from the two or more controllers related to the two or more commands and respective activities.
20. The manager according to claim 19, wherein the processor resolves the conflict based on the information and a specified strategy.
Type: Application
Filed: May 16, 2014
Publication Date: Nov 19, 2015
Patent Grant number: 9939802
Applicant: BAKER HUGHES INCORPORATED (Houston, TX)
Inventor: Dmitriy Dashevskiy (Nienhagen)
Application Number: 14/280,009